It was not difficult to measure Spiritual Roots, but it was quite tedious.
The population distribution of Qingshui Prefecture was not centralized. Small villages with 400 to 500 people were everywhere, and there were many places to go.
He had to go to more remote places, and perhaps he could add a few more cultivators to the clan.
The Lu Clan was not picky, and they did not mind having Five Spiritual Roots cultivators. Four Spiritual Roots were not bad either.
"I'll leave this to you." As the Great Elder spoke, he took out three talismans and handed them over.
"The Patriarch has already rewarded me with some talismans," Lu Xuanji said.
"I know, but the Patriarch is the Patriarch. These are from me," the Great Elder said. "I won't say much else, but you have to remember that if things get out of hand, remember to run away. Running away isn't shameful. Live to fight another day. You can't call a dead person a genius."
"Yes." Lu Xuanji only hesitated for a moment before taking the talisman from the Great Elder.
The three talismans were all Grade 2 talismans, and they could even pose some threat to Foundation Establishment cultivators. If used at a critical moment, they could be used to save his life.
After bidding farewell to the Great Elder, Lu Xuanji left Mount Ziyang and headed towards Dan Yang County.
Dan Yang County had a population of about 300,000 people. More than half of the population was scattered around the small mountain villages around the county, and the distribution of the population was extremely uneven.
What Lu Xuanji had to do was to walk around the county and the small mountain villages, looking for children with Spiritual Roots.
Testing for Spiritual Roots was a big deal for the Lu Clan.
According to the rules, Spiritual Roots had to be tested at the age of six. However, many people were delayed due to various reasons. Every year, there would be people who missed out. While they were testing for children, they also had to check for people who missed out.
Opening the map, he arrived at a small village.
Lu Xuanji called out to the village chief, beating drums and gongs non-stop. The villagers were gathering, but there were still some villagers farming in the fields.
The village chief said, "The Immortal master has come to check the Spiritual Root. As long as your child has a Spiritual Root, there will be no taxes. Furthermore, ten stones of food will be given to him every year. Come, come, come. Adults, take your child for the Spiritual Root examination."
Lu Xuanji took out a black stone, placed it on the table, and said, "Come one by one. The children will line up. Place your palms on the stone and stay there for ten breaths. If the black stone shines, it means you have Spiritual Roots, and your family will not need to pay taxes. You will also be subsidized ten stones of food every year."
"The children will go first. Adults can also touch it later."
The village chief maintained order. The children went forward and lined up noisily.
One child after another put their palms on the stone. Soon, 30 children were monitored, but none of them had Spiritual Roots.
Lu Xuanji was very disappointed, but he still put away the stone and went to another village.
He had gone to eight villages in three days and tested more than 300 children, but none of them had Spiritual Roots.
The probability was a little low.
Lu Xuanji was speechless. At the beginning of the test, he was very excited, but gradually, he became numb.
After walking for half a month, none of the children had Spiritual Roots.
The work was not tiring, only a little irritable.
On the eighteenth day, Lu Xuanji went to another village for the Spiritual Root examination.
Suddenly, the stone lit up.
"Not bad, not bad." Lu Xuanji was slightly excited. It was finally a good start. "Your child has a Spiritual Root. I'm going to take him away. This is the certificate. With the certificate, your family can enjoy tax exemption and a subsidy of one hundred stones of grain."
He took out the certificate that he had prepared beforehand and gave it to the child's father.
"Thank you, Immortal Master."
The child's parents were old farmers. Looking at the certificate, even though they could not read, they were still excited.
Lu Xuanji instructed the village chief for a moment, then brought the child into the small black room.
He took out eight crystal balls and used them to test their attributes.
The child pressed his palm on them, and the light balls lit up one after another.
"What a pity, it's Five Spiritual Roots!"
Lu Xuanji felt a little regretful.
Five Spiritual Roots did not have much value in cultivation. It was possible that he will work hard all his life, only to reach the fifth level of Qi Refinement stage was the limit, and there was no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
The clan would also not provide Five Spiritual Roots with Foundation Establishment pills.
However, Five Spiritual Roots still had value. At the very least, they could grow spirit fields, engage in odd jobs, refine pills, refine artifacts, and so on. They could contribute to the clan.
If these low-level cultivators did not work hard, how could high-level cultivators have the time to cultivate?
Five Spiritual Roots was not good, but at least it was a good start.
He took the child and left, arriving at Dan Yang County and settling down.
He went to the nearby village to test again. Time passed day by day. Soon, two months had passed, and he had completed 90% of his mission.
Only four children had Spiritual Roots, three had Five Spiritual Roots, and one had Four Spiritual Roots.
"There are still three to five days until the test is over, but only four were detected in a county. So unlucky."
Lu Xuanji was speechless.
He walked towards a village. He could not help but laugh to himself.
Cultivation was too difficult. Without Spiritual Roots, one could only stay a mortal.
As for mortals wanting to become stronger, they could only walk the path of martial arts.
The martial arts of this world were divided into Body Refinement, Houtian, and Xiantian.
In the Body Refinement stage, one could not even defeat the weakest Qi Refinement stage cultivators.
Houtian stage warriors could at most compete with Qi Refinement level one cultivators.
Xiantian stage warriors could compete with Qi Refinement stage level three cultivators.
The upper limit of the martial arts was too low.
In Lu Xuanji's past life, hard work could change one's fate, but in this world, hard work was built on the foundation of having Spiritual Roots. Without Spiritual Roots, any amount of hard work would be in vain.
Even if one had Spiritual Roots, if the attributes of Spiritual Roots were not good, and their future was limited.
Even if a big shot was reborn with the memories and cultivation experience of his previous life, if he was reborn with Five Spiritual Roots, he would also fall into obscurity.
Thinking of this, Lu Xuanji secretly rejoiced in his heart. He had a good starting hand, it was a Three Spiritual Roots. If it was like many web novels, where the main character would be a loser at the start, only to gain immense strength later. However, in this world, if you had Five Spiritual Roots, you might really be just a loser.
As he walked, he slowly approached a mountain village.
The mountain village was very small, with about a few dozen households. The village chief was located in a small river valley. It was currently the autumn harvest season. Farmers were busy working in the fields.
"It's not a good time to come," Lu Xuanji muttered to himself.
Many farmers were harvesting in the fields and did not have the time to examine their Spiritual Roots.
To the Lu Clan, inspecting Spirit Roots was very important
However, it was not important to many low-level people.
After all, Spiritual Roots inspection had been carried out for more than ten years, but there was not a single person in the village who had Spiritual Roots.
After a long time, many people no longer held any hope.
Even for Lu Xuanji, he walked over slowly. It could be considered to be discharging his duty. As for the children in the village who had Spiritual Roots, he did not have much hope.
When he arrived at the village entrance and sat down under a big tree, Lu Xuanji took out a teacup and teapot. He poured himself a cup of tea and drank the tea while waiting patiently. However, he was also absent-minded. He was thinking about other things, the spiritual herbs in the house, the spirit rice, and so on.
Before he left, he entrusted a cultivator of the clan to look after them. However, he was not the one looking after all those things, so he was worried.
In the clan, the spirit rice was the most stable and important income.